Monday advice: Pack the umbrella

Whether you're headed to the Labor Day Parade or CarolinaFest in Charlotte's uptown, or if your plans call for a visit to the Matthews Alive festival, there's some simple advice Monday ... bring the umbrella.

We caught a bit of a break in the stormy weather Sunday, when most of the activity was far to the north of Charlotte. Additional thunderstorm activity caused some severe weather over Tennessee and Georgia.

But it looks as if thunderstorm coverage will be widespread Monday and Tuesday.

The good news: The threat of damaging wind gusts and hail will be quite a bit lower both days than on Saturday and Sunday.  We'll be trading the damaging wind for downpours.

"The greater threat will be for locally heavy rain," National Weather Service meteorologist Chris Horne said early Monday morning. "There is a very moist atmosphere."

Harry Gerapetritis, who works with Horne in the Weather Service's Greer (S.C.) office, says there even is a chance for a flash flood watch somewhere in the region Monday. But it will be impossible to issue such a watch until forecasters see exactly where the thunderstorms develop.

The high level of atmospheric moisture and the instability are the fault of Hurricane Isaac. The storm's remnants have drifted into the Carolinas, Virginia and Tennessee and will remain in the region for a few days.

Horne says he expects Monday to develop much like the past two days in Charlotte -- with mostly sunny skies in the morning and early afternoon, giving way to increasing cloudiness and stormy conditions later in the afternoon.  There will be a bit more high cloudiness Monday than on Sunday, so high temperatures probably won't reach the levels (93 degrees) they did Sunday.

That means the Labor Day Parade on Monday morning probably will go off without a hitch, but late-afternoon activities at CarolinaFest and Matthews Alive could be in trouble.  Ditto for the Charlotte Knights' regular-season finale Monday afternoon against the Durham Bulls.

Tuesday forecast ... Horne says "it could be comparable" to Monday.

"There will be little change in the moisture level of the atmosphere," he said.

In short, it means a lot of shower and thunderstorm activity, along with very warm temperatures and hair-curling humidity levels.

And Thursday?  This remains an important forecast, given the Democratic National Convention plans for President Obama to deliver his acceptance speech in an outdoor event at Bank of America Stadium. Meteorologists still think the atmosphere will be drying somewhat Thursday, which will significantly lessen the chances of thunderstorms.  But there will still be a few storms scattered across the region.